November 17th 2024 was Safeguarding Sunday in the Church of England. The timing was fitting. In the previous week the Archbishop of Canterbury resigned, for the first time ever in the history of the Church of England. The trigger for this was the publication of a report, called the Makin report, into the horrific abuse committed by a Christian leader called John Smyth, over many years, starting back in the 1970s. He abused boys and young men from public schools, whom he met through the Iwerne Christian camps, and then carried on his evil work in Africa. The resignation of the Archbishop was because of mounting pressure over his failure to act on what he knew. Although this may all feel quite remote from the Barge, it’s right that we reflect on how we should respond – not least because we are part of the Church of England, and this abuser was operating in conservative evangelical circles. Here are eight brief pointers.
One, we weep with those who weep. Our thoughts and prayers today are in the first place and above all with the victims and survivors. The Makin report is over 250 pages long, and leaves no stone unturned. It is comprehensive, rigorous, and very disturbing. It concludes that ‘John Smyth was an appalling abuser of children and young men. His abuse was prolific, brutal, and horrific. His victims were subjected to traumatic physical, sexual, psychological, and spiritual attacks. The impact of that abuse is impossible to overstate and has permanently marked the lives of his victims’. We weep with them today – victims both in this country and in Africa.
Two, we invite any who have been affected by this to reach out. You may be someone who has had no connection personally with this particular case, but you’ve suffered abuse yourself at the hands of someone else in the past. And this case hitting the headlines may have retraumatised you. Or you may not be a victim or survivor of abuse, but all this has raised issues you want to talk through. We encourage you to reach out and get whatever help and support you may need. Do reach out to any of the Barge staff or to others listed on the Safeguarding page on the Barge website.
Three, we lament the failure of church leaders to take the action they should have. In the first place that failure was by a group of evangelical church leaders who knew about the abuse through a report in the 1980s. But they decided to keep quiet and cut a deal with Smyth to relocate to Africa, rather than reporting him to the police. But it also includes others who subsequently came to know about the abuse but who likewise failed to act – including senior leaders in the Church of England. It was right that Justin Welby resigned for his failure to act from 2013 onwards, and in particular from 2017, and others who knew should also be held to account.
Four, we reaffirm our commitment to the Barge being a safe space for everyone, including children and vulnerable adults. We take Safeguarding very seriously here at the Barge, and we are committed to continuing to make it a priority. The Barge elders and trustees are overall responsible for Safeguarding, but we also have two Safeguarding Officers – one staff member, Fiona Robb, and one non-staff, IB Alabi. They do great work in helping to ensure that the Barge is a safe place for everyone, as they help us implement diocesan Safeguarding procedures with regard to safer recruitment, DBS checks, risk assessments and so on. It’s a big job and we are grateful for all their hard work.
However, although we have people with particular responsibilities for Safeguarding, there is also a sense in which Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. That is, if you have concerns, it is your responsibility to speak up rather than just assuming it’s fine or that someone else is surely dealing with it. If you have any concerns about anything, do speak to one of us. Or, if necessary, you can contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Team directly. The number is on the Safeguarding page on the Barge website, together with with a flowchart summarising what action to take if you have concerns.
And do please continue to work with us willingly and wholeheartedly in Safeguarding. If you are recruited for a serving role and it involves getting a DBS check or doing online Safeguarding training, please do that promptly and without needing to be chased. It’s not unnecessary bureaucracy. It’s important to keep everyone safe.
Five, we recognise that the Church of England and para-church organisations have made very significant steps forward in Safeguarding and that the measures, procedures, systems and protocols now in place are immeasurably better than they were in years past. On the ground in so many local churches, the Barge included, a lot of care is being taken. But there is clearly still work to be done, especially at senior levels in the church, with regard to a change in the cultures that enabled this abuse and allowed it to continue for so long.
Six, we take comfort from knowing that a day of justice lies ahead. Tragically for his victims, John Smyth died in 2018 at the age of 75, while under investigation by Hampshire Police, without being brought to justice for his crimes. But God is a God of justice, and there is a final reckoning, when all will be held to account. We take comfort in that, even as we work hard now for justice in this life.
Seven, we renew our resolve to turn from sin in our own lives. The hypocrisy of John Smyth was horrific. Outwardly a well-respected Christian leader and teacher, but privately such an appalling abuser. And the cover up by church leaders was terrible. The Bible warns us about the deceitfulness of sin, and that is a warning we all need to take to heart. We all desperately need, and rely on, the gift of God’s Son to forgive us, and the gift of God’s Spirit to cleanse and empower us to live godly lives. But awareness of sin in our own lives is not a reason to keep quiet when we see others doing things that should be reported.
Eight, we need to learn lessons – one of which is that the job of shepherds is to protect the sheep. The evidence says that the cover up by evangelical church leaders in the 1980s was because they saw the priority as being to protect the work of God, and the reputation of the Iwerne Christian camps. But the job of a shepherd is not to protect the work of God or the institution or reputations, but to protect the sheep from the wolf. In this case the shepherds negotiated with the wolf and allowed him to carry on his evil work, and even to relocate to another country where he continued to savage God’s sheep. Those shepherds failed in their primary task, and they were church leaders from our conservative evangelical tribe. We need to learn from their terrible failing. Shepherds must protect the sheep – from false teachers and from predators. And we recommit ourselves to that.
A prayer: Lord God, we pray that you the God of all comfort would bring comfort and healing to the victims of these horrific crimes. We pray for shepherds of the flock today, that they would be committed to protecting the sheep from the wolves. We pray for all of us to be vigilant, and that our church here at the Barge would continue to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone, as we proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.